How to generate layout in Magic from a schematic designed in QUCS-S using the IHP PDK?

[FahmiMhdd]

Hi @sergeiandreyev ,

I’ve created a schematic in QUCS-S using the IHP PDK, and now I’d like to generate its layout in Magic.
However, I’m not sure about the correct workflow to do this.

• How can I transfer or recreate the schematic (designed in QUCS-S with IHP PDK) into Magic for layout design?
• Do I need to install or set up the IHP PDK in Magic first, just like we do when installing the PDK in QUCS-S?

Any guidance or references to documentation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[RTimothyEdwards]

Magic reads from SPICE, so if you can create a SPICE netlist from QUCS-S, then you should be able to read that into magic and generate the devices.

You will need to have the version of the IHP PDK that supports the generated devices in magic, which is currently in PR #724

I have not used QUCS-S and there may be issues, especially with support of CDL format when reading into magic. Please let me know (@RTimothyEdwards) if you find any problems. If it is possible to export SPICE (not CDL) from QUCS-S, that may work better. You may need to send me the netlist so that I can test how it reads into magic.

[FahmiMhdd]

Hello @RTimothyEdwards , when I use the tech manager for ihp-sg13g2, there is no “Import SPICE” option shown in Magic as seen in the image. However, when I try using the SkyWater PDK (sky130A), the “Import SPICE” option does appear in Magic. How can I enable or get the “Import SPICE” option to appear when using ihp-sg13g2?
skywater 130A:

Thank You

[RTimothyEdwards]

@FahmiMhdd : The "Import SPICE" function is added to the menu by the device generator script, which also adds a "Devices" drop-down menu at the top. To make sure that the device generator script is run on startup, you need to run magic with the arguments -rcfile /path/to/ihp-sg13g2.magicrc. For example, when I run magic for IHP (which I do through an alias magicihp so I don't have to type everything out all the time), I do:

magic -d OGL -rcfile /home/tim/gits/IHP-Open-PDK-work/ihp-sg13g2/libs.tech/magic/ihp-sg13g2.magicrc

There is other code in the ihp-sg13g2.magicrc startup script that sets the correct environment for the IHP open PDK, so it's not just to add menu functions. It's critical that you start magic using the startup script.

[FahmiMhdd]

Hi @RTimothyEdwards , I've already tried it but it's still the same and honestly I'm very confused. Could you possibly make a step-by-step guide showing exactly what to do?

[RTimothyEdwards]

Also, make sure you are using the IHP PDK from my fork and make sure you are in the magic_gencells branch, where I have done the development work. Or you can pull the contents from the pull request I made to the upstream IHP PDK, and since I requested a merge into the dev branch, the dev branch would be the correct one to be in if you use the pull request contents.

[RTimothyEdwards]

@FahmiMhdd : I will need some information. If you cd to where you have cloned IHP-Open-PDK and do git branch, what does it return? What are the contents of .git/config in that directory? What does magic --version return?

Your screenshot shows a tech file version of 0.3.0, whereas I think my magic_gencells branch was udpated to 0.4.0 (before I updated again to 1.0.0 two days ago for the pull request, but you should be fine with versions earlier than that. More recent is better, though, since I have been working heavily on the generated devices over the past month).

[sergeiandreyev]

Hi @FahmiMhdd, could you please provide feedback to Tim's questions?